{"author_link":"\/users\/moski","author_name":"Moski","author_uid":"moski","comments":[],"epoch":1526263205,"event":"LD41","format":"md","ldjam_node_id":96704,"likes":9,"metadata":{"p_key":"115210","p_author":"Moski","p_authorkey":"1002325","p_urlkey":"331170","p_title":"Wizsnooks - The Wizardly World of Postmortening","p_cat":"LDJam ","p_event":"LD41","p_time":"1526263205","p_likes":"9","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":"1002325","us_name":"Moski","us_username":"moski","event_start":"1524182400","event_key":"72","event_name":"LD 41"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD41","removed_author":false},"_superparent":73256,"_trust":2,"author":2325,"body":"It\u2019s time for the final sprint for _Ludum Dare_! It\u2019s the last week, and people are going full-throttle commenting and rating! [There are a lot of games with less than 20 ratings that deserve some more attention, so be sure to keep contributing to the community!](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/games\/danger\/all) Lots of people here have worked hard to make it through the crunch!\n\nAs for [**Wizsnooks**, our loot-frenzy pool action game](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wizsnooks), we got a **post-mortem** ready for you. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but we\u2019re still glad that we get to share this with you!\n\n\n![Wizsnookspostmortembanner.png](\/\/\/raw\/519\/z\/14d06.png)\n\n\n**Wizsnooks** is a roguelike loot pool hybrid where you clear tables with different layouts by defeating all of the enemies present on it. Enemies are defeated by attacking them with your white-ball, _Snooks_, or by pushing them against one of the lava-filled holes spread across the table. Once all the enemies are defeated on a table, the game will randomly pick the next one, filled with all new enemy balls to defeat.\n\nWhen an enemy is defeated, the player is awarded a random piece of equipment of varying rarity which alters _Snooks_ defense and attacking stats, making it progressively easier to defeat more and harder enemies. Equipment can also be dischanted as to heal some of _Snooks_ health and inventory prioritization is a must. However, no amount of equipment will save _Snooks_ if they fall into a lava-filled hole!\n\nAlthough we kept our same team formation (one programmer, one artist and one composer) for this _Ludum Dare_, this time-around, the team was mostly composed of members which have recently joined our team at ***Whales And Games*** , with the exception of @Moski, returning as the game\u2019s artist. @Kroltan, which had previously participated with Moski on the creation of [_JouleThief: Charge Your Phone_](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/39\/joulethief-charge-your-phone) joined as the team\u2019s programmer, and @RobinhoodPT, which had participated with us on previous _Ludum Dare_ entries, such as [*Colossorama*](https:\/\/whalesandgames.itch.io\/colossorama) and [*Jazzy Beats*](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/40\/jazzy-beats) returned as the game\u2019s sole audio composer.\n\n## Tools Used\n\nWizsnooks was developed with a mix and match of programs which we normally use during our daily game development workflows, along with our vision and sweat. Some of these tools, as well as some of the plugins for each respective tool, that we used include the following: \n\n- [**Unity**](http:\/\/unity3d.com\/), the engine used to make the game. [Here\u2019s @kroltan\u2019s post about the hair-rising development of our wizardry snooker.](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wizsnooks\/getting-the-ball-rolling-in-wizsnooks-hopefully-a-success-story)\n- [**Visual Studio**](https:\/\/www.visualstudio.com\/vs\/community\/), for writing all of the game\u2019s code.\n- [**ReShaper**](https:\/\/www.jetbrains.com\/resharper\/). a _Visual Studio_ plugin that helps with several programming tasks, such as helping with refactoring code (, aka, \u201cthe equivalent of Word's Clippy\u201d).\n- [**ReWired**](http:\/\/guavaman.com\/projects\/rewired\/), a _Unity_ editor extension that helps handle input management.\n- [**SourceTree**](https:\/\/www.sourcetreeapp.com\/), a visual git tool, so the team could update the code and add assets, directly to the project\u2019s repository without much hassle.\n- [**Cubase Elements**](https:\/\/www.steinberg.net\/en\/products\/cubase\/cubase_elements.html), the DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) used to make the music. [@RobinHoodPT posted about it, in case you\u2019d like to know more about it.](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wizsnooks\/snooker-your-way-into-the-music-of-wizsnooks)\n- [**Audacity**](https:\/\/www.audacityteam.org\/), for sound effect editing.\n- [**Krita**](https:\/\/krita.org\/en\/) (which is free) for the creation and designing of the Art Assets. [Take a look at @Moski\u2019s quick tutorial about making an enemy ball.](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wizsnooks\/about-making-assets-and-bad-guys)\n\n\n![Wizsnooks_2018-05-13_15-44-04.png](\/\/\/raw\/519\/z\/14d07.png)\n\n\n## Game Idea and Design\n\nBecause of timezones and availability, not everyone on the team was present at the announcement of the theme. Shortly after the theme was announced, some members got into  brainstorming, then one left and another came to further discuss more ideas.It wasn\u2019t until about 12 hours after the theme\u2019s announcement that the game\u2019s concept of \u201cSnooker but with roguelike elements and loot\u201d finally materialized with everyone agreeing on it.\n\nWith pool mechanics in mind, the programmer was able to make snookers, enemies, and even random level progression (which some people have mistaken as procedurally generated levels). The musician delivered some of his best tracks to date, and the art was among the most cartoonish the artist has done. The team played to their best strengths and in the end, we were all satisfied with what _Wizsnooks_ became.\n\n\n## The Best Parts of Development\n\n**Scope of the Project**\n\nThe idea of Snooker+Action+Roguelike was accepted almost immediately by the whole team. It was initially created with themes of pool mixed with a medieval setting (which, later in development, was shifted to sorcery). Because of it, we were able to quickly debate about what to add, what to remove, and which direction to take the game to. Many ideas included bosses and enemies taking turns to attack, but we ended up heading on a direction on which skill and inventory management were more important than hoping to survive being thrown into a hole without the player\u2019s input.\n\nThe project had it all. A core gameplay loop, attacking and healing mechanics, inventory, enemies, and many levels. Discussing a plan, grounding the possible ideas and dismissing those that would need a lot of tweaking or playtesting.Having a direction made it possible to polish the game, make it as little confusing as we could, and still manage to have a wide arrangement of loot and levels.\n\n**Labor Structure, Division and Cooperation**\n\nOur core team was composed of 3 people, with a few special mentions of a few others that assisted us with feedback, help with code and moral support. Because of the tools used, the group was able to stay communicated with each other, update the project almost seamlessly and discuss changes and directions. Overall, we all had something to do almost all the time.\n\nBecause some of us had the knowledge to work with _Unity_ at the same time, towards the end of the jam, we were making many levels at the same time. While the artist kept preparing stuff for UI and the title screen, the musician was able to import weapon and helmet assets, which allowed to double the loot. Finally, the programmer was able to improve the overall gameplay of the game.\n\n\n\f![Wizsnooks_2018-05-13_15-45-16.png](\/\/\/raw\/519\/z\/14d08.png)\n\f\n\n## What Experience and Feedback Taught Us\n\n**The Physics Could Be Improved**\n\n_Wizsnooks_ was made with Unity\u2019s recently added tiling system, which allowed us to create a multitude of maps in little time. However, one of its core problems was that the game\u2019s physics ended up not working as intended. Balls would lose a lot of momentum when touching each other, bounce in  weird directions or bounce back when hitting a wall, displaying a weird feeling of friction at times, making it hard to tell where something will end before you hit the cue ball.\n\nLikewise, we should also have given the players the ability to preview how their shot would behave, allowing them to navigate around much easier.\n\n**The Camera Shouldn\u2019t Be an Obstacle**\n\nWith so many levels, there should be a way to be able to look around before hitting the ball. Otherwise, when starting a new level, the player would need to do small hits to avoid hitting a dragon orb accidentally or falling into a lava pit by shooting somewhere without having knowledge of the level\u2019s layout. A common suggestion we got through feedback was to allow the player to look around the map before taking a shot.\n\f\n## Closing Remarks. What Can We Improve On?\n\nIt\u2019s been a fantastic experience to work as a team again this _Ludum Dare_. With _Wizsnooks_, we adhered to a simple idea and increased it with concepts that were within our grasp, which allowed us to deliver a polished and fun experience (sans a few rough edges) which is what ***Whales And Games*** always strives for when creating new projects.\n\nLike many projects in the _Ludum Dare_, we\u2019d love to see some post-jam enhanced edition of sorts. Pending availability of the team, we\u2019ve discussed things that we\u2019d like to add to _Wizsnooks_, a lot of which is based on the  feedback we\u2019ve gotten from the comments. Some of the changes that we\u2019d make include:\n\n- Tweaks to the behavior of physics, intending to have something more realistic and intuitive.\n- A common complaint with the game were the odd physics of hitting a ball into a wall only for it to go in an unexpected direction.\n- Add more visibility to the game, since early runs involved people either taking leap-of-faith shots or doing smaller ones to avoid accidentally going into a lava pit or dying when crashing with a dragon.\n- Encouraging trying to take as few shots as possible, possibly by giving a maximum number of shots or giving an extra reward when finishing under a par.\n- More additions like extra levels, items and enemies are a given, but we could consider adding extra obstacles, objects, power ups and the like to add more to the \u201cWizard\u201d theme.\n\f\n\n![Wizsnooks_2018-05-13_15-47-22.png](\/\/\/raw\/519\/z\/14d09.png)\n\n\n## What\u2019s Next?\n\nGoing forward, The ***Whales And Games*** team is planning on touching up some of our projects that we have previously shown around (such as on [our Twitter wall](twitter.com\/whalesandgames) ). Since it\u2019s a growing team, some of the members  want to work on updating _Wizsnooks_, while others want to throw a few surprises in the coming months. There would be some extra touches here and there, and hopefully a few releases. We also want to start interacting more with players and better incorporate fan-feedback into our workflow. If you\u2019d like to join us in this process, feel free to say \u2018Hi!\u2019 through [our _Discord_ server!](discord.gg\/wag)\n\n---\n\nMaking the post-mortem was an eye opener for us, and we hope that you can find this insightful as well. Doing an hybrid of snooker and roguelike was something that we couldn't have even dreamed before the gamejam, and seeing it exist is just amazing. The team is proud of the project we made this time around and about the effort of not only us, but those that supported us from start to finish. \n\nIf you're interested in checking it out, [**Wizsnooks**, could welcome some last minute ratings.](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wizsnooks) It\u2019s been fantastic to once again participate with incredibly talented people at the _Ludum Dare_, and we\u2019re hoping to stick around for some more in the future. We\u2019ll be crossing fingers and hoping to see you all around! Cheers! :whale:","comments":0,"created":"2018-05-14T00:14:02Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"id":96704,"love":9,"love-timestamp":"2018-05-14T13:52:51Z","meta":[],"modified":"2018-05-14T13:52:51Z","name":"Wizsnooks - The Wizardly World of Postmortening","node-timestamp":"2018-05-14T03:47:54Z","parent":80669,"parents":[1,5,9,73256,80669],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wizsnooks\/wizsnooks-the-wizardly-world-of-postmortening","published":"2018-05-14T02:00:05Z","scope":"public","slug":"wizsnooks-the-wizardly-world-of-postmortening","subsubtype":"","subtype":"","type":"post","version":286460},"node_metadata":{"n_key":"96704","n_urlkey":"331170","n_parent":"80669","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wizsnooks\/wizsnooks-the-wizardly-world-of-postmortening","n_slug":"wizsnooks-the-wizardly-world-of-","n_type":"post","n_subtype":"","n_subsubtype":"","n_author":"2325","n_created":"1526256842","n_modified":"1526305971","n_version":"286460","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"source_url":"https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wizsnooks\/wizsnooks-the-wizardly-world-of-postmortening","text":"It\u2019s time for the final sprint for _Ludum Dare_! It\u2019s the last week, and people are going full-throttle commenting and rating! [There are a lot of games with less than 20 ratings that deserve some more attention, so be sure to keep contributing to the community!](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/games\/danger\/all) Lots of people here have worked hard to make it through the crunch!\n\nAs for [**Wizsnooks**, our loot-frenzy pool action game](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wizsnooks), we got a **post-mortem** ready for you. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but we\u2019re still glad that we get to share this with you!\n\n\n![Wizsnookspostmortembanner.png](\/\/\/raw\/519\/z\/14d06.png)\n\n\n**Wizsnooks** is a roguelike loot pool hybrid where you clear tables with different layouts by defeating all of the enemies present on it. Enemies are defeated by attacking them with your white-ball, _Snooks_, or by pushing them against one of the lava-filled holes spread across the table. Once all the enemies are defeated on a table, the game will randomly pick the next one, filled with all new enemy balls to defeat.\n\nWhen an enemy is defeated, the player is awarded a random piece of equipment of varying rarity which alters _Snooks_ defense and attacking stats, making it progressively easier to defeat more and harder enemies. Equipment can also be dischanted as to heal some of _Snooks_ health and inventory prioritization is a must. However, no amount of equipment will save _Snooks_ if they fall into a lava-filled hole!\n\nAlthough we kept our same team formation (one programmer, one artist and one composer) for this _Ludum Dare_, this time-around, the team was mostly composed of members which have recently joined our team at ***Whales And Games*** , with the exception of @Moski, returning as the game\u2019s artist. @Kroltan, which had previously participated with Moski on the creation of [_JouleThief: Charge Your Phone_](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/39\/joulethief-charge-your-phone) joined as the team\u2019s programmer, and @RobinhoodPT, which had participated with us on previous _Ludum Dare_ entries, such as [*Colossorama*](https:\/\/whalesandgames.itch.io\/colossorama) and [*Jazzy Beats*](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/40\/jazzy-beats) returned as the game\u2019s sole audio composer.\n\n## Tools Used\n\nWizsnooks was developed with a mix and match of programs which we normally use during our daily game development workflows, along with our vision and sweat. Some of these tools, as well as some of the plugins for each respective tool, that we used include the following: \n\n- [**Unity**](http:\/\/unity3d.com\/), the engine used to make the game. [Here\u2019s @kroltan\u2019s post about the hair-rising development of our wizardry snooker.](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wizsnooks\/getting-the-ball-rolling-in-wizsnooks-hopefully-a-success-story)\n- [**Visual Studio**](https:\/\/www.visualstudio.com\/vs\/community\/), for writing all of the game\u2019s code.\n- [**ReShaper**](https:\/\/www.jetbrains.com\/resharper\/). a _Visual Studio_ plugin that helps with several programming tasks, such as helping with refactoring code (, aka, \u201cthe equivalent of Word's Clippy\u201d).\n- [**ReWired**](http:\/\/guavaman.com\/projects\/rewired\/), a _Unity_ editor extension that helps handle input management.\n- [**SourceTree**](https:\/\/www.sourcetreeapp.com\/), a visual git tool, so the team could update the code and add assets, directly to the project\u2019s repository without much hassle.\n- [**Cubase Elements**](https:\/\/www.steinberg.net\/en\/products\/cubase\/cubase_elements.html), the DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) used to make the music. [@RobinHoodPT posted about it, in case you\u2019d like to know more about it.](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wizsnooks\/snooker-your-way-into-the-music-of-wizsnooks)\n- [**Audacity**](https:\/\/www.audacityteam.org\/), for sound effect editing.\n- [**Krita**](https:\/\/krita.org\/en\/) (which is free) for the creation and designing of the Art Assets. [Take a look at @Moski\u2019s quick tutorial about making an enemy ball.](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wizsnooks\/about-making-assets-and-bad-guys)\n\n\n![Wizsnooks_2018-05-13_15-44-04.png](\/\/\/raw\/519\/z\/14d07.png)\n\n\n## Game Idea and Design\n\nBecause of timezones and availability, not everyone on the team was present at the announcement of the theme. Shortly after the theme was announced, some members got into  brainstorming, then one left and another came to further discuss more ideas.It wasn\u2019t until about 12 hours after the theme\u2019s announcement that the game\u2019s concept of \u201cSnooker but with roguelike elements and loot\u201d finally materialized with everyone agreeing on it.\n\nWith pool mechanics in mind, the programmer was able to make snookers, enemies, and even random level progression (which some people have mistaken as procedurally generated levels). The musician delivered some of his best tracks to date, and the art was among the most cartoonish the artist has done. The team played to their best strengths and in the end, we were all satisfied with what _Wizsnooks_ became.\n\n\n## The Best Parts of Development\n\n**Scope of the Project**\n\nThe idea of Snooker+Action+Roguelike was accepted almost immediately by the whole team. It was initially created with themes of pool mixed with a medieval setting (which, later in development, was shifted to sorcery). Because of it, we were able to quickly debate about what to add, what to remove, and which direction to take the game to. Many ideas included bosses and enemies taking turns to attack, but we ended up heading on a direction on which skill and inventory management were more important than hoping to survive being thrown into a hole without the player\u2019s input.\n\nThe project had it all. A core gameplay loop, attacking and healing mechanics, inventory, enemies, and many levels. Discussing a plan, grounding the possible ideas and dismissing those that would need a lot of tweaking or playtesting.Having a direction made it possible to polish the game, make it as little confusing as we could, and still manage to have a wide arrangement of loot and levels.\n\n**Labor Structure, Division and Cooperation**\n\nOur core team was composed of 3 people, with a few special mentions of a few others that assisted us with feedback, help with code and moral support. Because of the tools used, the group was able to stay communicated with each other, update the project almost seamlessly and discuss changes and directions. Overall, we all had something to do almost all the time.\n\nBecause some of us had the knowledge to work with _Unity_ at the same time, towards the end of the jam, we were making many levels at the same time. While the artist kept preparing stuff for UI and the title screen, the musician was able to import weapon and helmet assets, which allowed to double the loot. Finally, the programmer was able to improve the overall gameplay of the game.\n\n\n\f![Wizsnooks_2018-05-13_15-45-16.png](\/\/\/raw\/519\/z\/14d08.png)\n\f\n\n## What Experience and Feedback Taught Us\n\n**The Physics Could Be Improved**\n\n_Wizsnooks_ was made with Unity\u2019s recently added tiling system, which allowed us to create a multitude of maps in little time. However, one of its core problems was that the game\u2019s physics ended up not working as intended. Balls would lose a lot of momentum when touching each other, bounce in  weird directions or bounce back when hitting a wall, displaying a weird feeling of friction at times, making it hard to tell where something will end before you hit the cue ball.\n\nLikewise, we should also have given the players the ability to preview how their shot would behave, allowing them to navigate around much easier.\n\n**The Camera Shouldn\u2019t Be an Obstacle**\n\nWith so many levels, there should be a way to be able to look around before hitting the ball. Otherwise, when starting a new level, the player would need to do small hits to avoid hitting a dragon orb accidentally or falling into a lava pit by shooting somewhere without having knowledge of the level\u2019s layout. A common suggestion we got through feedback was to allow the player to look around the map before taking a shot.\n\f\n## Closing Remarks. What Can We Improve On?\n\nIt\u2019s been a fantastic experience to work as a team again this _Ludum Dare_. With _Wizsnooks_, we adhered to a simple idea and increased it with concepts that were within our grasp, which allowed us to deliver a polished and fun experience (sans a few rough edges) which is what ***Whales And Games*** always strives for when creating new projects.\n\nLike many projects in the _Ludum Dare_, we\u2019d love to see some post-jam enhanced edition of sorts. Pending availability of the team, we\u2019ve discussed things that we\u2019d like to add to _Wizsnooks_, a lot of which is based on the  feedback we\u2019ve gotten from the comments. Some of the changes that we\u2019d make include:\n\n- Tweaks to the behavior of physics, intending to have something more realistic and intuitive.\n- A common complaint with the game were the odd physics of hitting a ball into a wall only for it to go in an unexpected direction.\n- Add more visibility to the game, since early runs involved people either taking leap-of-faith shots or doing smaller ones to avoid accidentally going into a lava pit or dying when crashing with a dragon.\n- Encouraging trying to take as few shots as possible, possibly by giving a maximum number of shots or giving an extra reward when finishing under a par.\n- More additions like extra levels, items and enemies are a given, but we could consider adding extra obstacles, objects, power ups and the like to add more to the \u201cWizard\u201d theme.\n\f\n\n![Wizsnooks_2018-05-13_15-47-22.png](\/\/\/raw\/519\/z\/14d09.png)\n\n\n## What\u2019s Next?\n\nGoing forward, The ***Whales And Games*** team is planning on touching up some of our projects that we have previously shown around (such as on [our Twitter wall](twitter.com\/whalesandgames) ). Since it\u2019s a growing team, some of the members  want to work on updating _Wizsnooks_, while others want to throw a few surprises in the coming months. There would be some extra touches here and there, and hopefully a few releases. We also want to start interacting more with players and better incorporate fan-feedback into our workflow. If you\u2019d like to join us in this process, feel free to say \u2018Hi!\u2019 through [our _Discord_ server!](discord.gg\/wag)\n\n---\n\nMaking the post-mortem was an eye opener for us, and we hope that you can find this insightful as well. Doing an hybrid of snooker and roguelike was something that we couldn't have even dreamed before the gamejam, and seeing it exist is just amazing. The team is proud of the project we made this time around and about the effort of not only us, but those that supported us from start to finish. \n\nIf you're interested in checking it out, [**Wizsnooks**, could welcome some last minute ratings.](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wizsnooks) It\u2019s been fantastic to once again participate with incredibly talented people at the _Ludum Dare_, and we\u2019re hoping to stick around for some more in the future. We\u2019ll be crossing fingers and hoping to see you all around! Cheers! :whale:","title":"Wizsnooks - The Wizardly World of Postmortening","wayback_source":[]}